The End Of Means
by martheev
Summary: A catchup of the summer break between seasons six and seven, then my version of how season seven would've went. Let me know what you think, good or bad. Thanks for reading!
1. Overview

Okay, if you haven't seen up to Buffy season six and don't want plot points ruined for you, you don't want to read this fic. This is going to be my season seven so it will encompass everything from the six seasons before it. Just wanted to give fair warning about that.

I'm writting this specific entry as a review to kind of give my thoughts on season six and possibly help myself, as well as the reader, figure out why I have the characters do the things that they do in this fiction.

I havn't gotten too far into this so I don't know the exact time frame. I do know that it happens sometime after the sixth season, after Willow went crazy and evil. Not sure if it's right after or not. Probably pretty much right after. I plan on kind of fleshing out that summer pause that we missed in between the real season six and seven on TV. Of course adding my own little bits and pieces here and there.

Here's a gist of season six. Buffy died but was brought back to life by a spell from Willow which Xander, Anya, and Tara helped with. Later on it turned out that Buffy had been in Heaven. Her friends had ripped her away from her peace. She didn't have long to think about that though since she had to get a job to help support her and her sister Dawn. All she ended up with was a position at the local fast food joint The Doublemeat Palace. Also she began to realize that Dawn was no longer a kid and realized she had to train her to fight.

Anya and Xander were to be married but Xander got tricked by a demon who pretended to show him their future together, which was with Xander turning into a horrible person and breaking Anya's heart. Xander always worried he would turn into his alcoholic father and he thought this proved it. So he walked out on the wedding. He made it back and it appeared the wedding was going to go on as planned. But Xander was too shaken by the vision, fearing that it would turn out true anyway. So Xander walked away from the wedding, breaking Anya's heart anyway. This sent her back to her demon boss D'Hoffrin and she had herself turned back into a vengeance demon.

Spike was happy that Buffy had finally broken down and came to be with him. All they had was a sexual relationship, but eventually Buffy broke that off. He went a little crazy and even went so far as to try and rape Buffy. He didn't succeed but it opened his eyes to what kind of monster he could be. So he went on a quest to regain his soul. At the very end of the season it was restored. As season seven opened we found Spike hadn't dealt with the reensouling well and it left him completely crazy.

There was a group of nerds (Warren, Andrew, Jonathan) being ass pains all year. Eventually Warren took matters into his own hands. Enraged he went to Buffy's house with a gun. As he was running away he began shooting. He tripped over something (you can see this in the episode if you watch close enough) making him shoot upwards. The stray bullet went into Willow and Tara's bedroom (yes they are lesbians in case no one knew) and into Tara. Willow held onto her love until Tara breathed her last. Willow attempted to bring Tara back the same way she had Buffy. But since Tara had died from normal means (the bullet) instead of magical way (jumping into a vortex to close it) the spell would not work. Willow turned evil, ready to take vengeance on those who had ruined her life. She trapped Warren in the woods and skinned him alive. Andrew and Jonathan escaped (with the Scoobies help) and made their way to Mexico. Even though only a human with no superpowers to be found, Xander was able to step in front of Willows beam and keep her from raising an ancient tomb from the ground. Eventually Willow broke down and began to feel her pain. The black veins disappeared and her black hair slowly returned to red as she wept in Xander's arms. Season seven showed us that Willow had been over in England with Giles learning how to use the power she couldn't deny.

Damn! I think that's it! Geez I'm worn out just typing all that! LOL! If I feel the need to explain anything else ill make a note of it later.


	2. Chapter 1 Starting Out: Buffy

Buffy put her hands on her hips and flung her hair behind her shoulders. "Come on! How much are you kidding me?"

The vamp hissed to show its teeth. "I don't find anything terribly funny at the moment."

"You mean OTHER than your performance right? I know you're all with the new what being only a few weeks old. But please! Face it, with you bark does not bite."

The creature ran at her, but she kicked it square in its jaw, sending it flying back into a headstone.

"See what I mean? I've got a sixty pound sister that could kick your ass!"

The vamp once again rushed at the Slayer, but with the same pathetic results.

"We've already got game set and match. What exactly are you going for here?"

"Stop it." the thing whimpered.

"What with the punning. Sorry, it's part of the gig."

"No, with the beating me up part!"

"Give me one good reason why I should do that."

The vamp shrugged. "Cause it hurts."

"You. Which I can live with. Anything else?" Buffy stared at it for a few seconds, then rolled her eyes. "Fine fine fine Mr. baby with fangs, have it your way." She reached into her inside coat pocket and pulled out a stake, then plunged it into the thing's heart. She sighed as she wiped the dust off of her sleeve. "I'm gonna get rusty if I have to keep fighting like that. Where's a good apocalypse when you need one?"


	3. Chapter 2 Starting Out: Dawn

Dawn made an annoyed, clearing throat sound. "That one was supposed to be mine."

"Heck, I'd even take a tiny little Halloween demon thing. It was kind of cute. Oooo! Maybe the mayor's evil again."

"Buffy!"

"What?"

"Are you even listening to me?"

"So what didn't cover that answer?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "No it didn't. So typical, can't even get your head out of your slaying."

"I can so! It's out. Ask me anything."

"When can I start having sex."

Buffy's brows went up. "When you're old enough that your parts don't work anymore. Something else? NOT with having to think about my sister doing things that I shouldn't be thinking about."

"'Like growing up.'" came out of Dawn's brain. But she pushed it down once again. "Sixty pound sister?"

"What? You're tiny."

"Well thank you Ms. Voluptuous."

The two stood there in silence for a few seconds.

"Okay," Buffy began. "We're at a we both need to eat more checkmate. How about if we start now. I can cook."

"Since when?"

"Since the drive thru is open 24 hours."

"So the Doublemeat Palace didn't get you too tired of greasy badness?"

"Not when it's the only thing in my culinary talents that keeps me alive."

Dawn just shrugged and began following her sister. "Oh and by the way, the mayor isn't evil. He may leave schools in need of funding and potholes on main street, but that doesn't make him a demon."

"They could be evil potholes."

"Yeah, maybe if you were Buffy the mechanic. But you're title has more to do with slaying." Dawn quickly added something in her head. "'And maybe someday mine will too.'"


	4. Chapter 3 Starting Out: Willow

Willow cringed a bit when the big wooden doors slammed into the stone walls.

Giles turned his face halfway around, able to see her from the corner of his eye. "Terribly sorry. I don't know the limits of my own strength apparently."

Willow, whose ears were still ringing, had no choice but to agree. "That seems logical." She looked up at the high ceiling and doors. "Why do you have them so big anyway. Seriously Giles, you could move a giraffe through here. And from what I've seen none of you Watchers are very tall."

"Perhaps they wanted to fit many of us in here at once. Besides, don't you like having plenty of room when you walk into a place?"

"Kinda. But being able to drive a tank into the dining room? It's called overkill Giles."

"Yes, I suppose it is." Giles stopped a second to look into the dinning room. "Besides you couldn't fit a tank in there."

"Got one we can test that theory with?"

"While we have stakes and the occasional axe it doesn't mean we come that heavily armed." Giles got silent for a second. "Besides, that's not what you're here for you know."

"Oh, yeah, right." Willow mumbled behind him. Truth told, Willow DIDN'T know what she was here for at all. That fact gave her a colder chill than these big drafty castle hallways.

Giles led her through one last door. "This will be your room. Feel free to begin unpacking. Someone will be along shortly to tell you more." Giles sent her a reassuring smile before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

Willow sighed as she slumped down on her bed. She cringed again. This time for the uncertainty that the next few hours, possibly months of her life were going to be. She only hoped it would all be over that quickly.


	5. Chapter 4 Starting Out: Xander

Alexander Harris stood staring at the sun, his hand the only blockade between his eyes and the harmful bright rays. He often took breaks like this to think about things. A lot how Willow was doing. He'd never admit it, but he was highly proud of himself for stopping her Wiccan rampage the way he had. All he was was human. He was glad to know that was sometimes enough.

But it wasn't long before that distraction was gone. Eventually, and not very long of a period of time at that, his thoughts would shift to another lady in his life. Anya. He had torn her up so much inside when he left her at the alter that she felt the need to return to her life as a vengeance demon. But the thing that burnt him up the most was he had forced her to sleep with Spike.

"'It's like a guy's gotta be DEAD around here to get any!'" he'd always think to himself. Although he knew that wasn't true. He had Anya, all he had to do was keep her. The irony of all this was that he had saved the whole world, but he couldn't save the one thing he loved most. Screw the world, he wanted Anya.

But of course this led to yet another thought. Not long ago he was a savior for certain. But that completely contradicted what he was doing now. He moved his gaze away from the sun, probably within seconds of going legally blind, to stare at the brick and mortar that his construction crew was now buzzing around on. Sunnydale High. It had been a Godsend when that place was blown up. Not that it stopped all the wicked craziness. It was just the idea of the place that bothered him. How many bad dates had come out of that place? Three from best memory and none of those had exactly worked out wonderfully. Let's see insect woman, an Incan mummy girl, and the most terrifying, queen bitch herself Cordelia. A slight shudder escaped him from that last thought.

But to overcome your fears you had to face them right? He remembered about six or so years ago when he was terrified of vampires. Now he staked them without a second thought. And maybe rebuilding this school would help put a few more demons behind him. However he was more worried that it would create a whole NEW slew of the damn things, mental as well as literal. But there really wasn't time to think about that now. He went back to doing the only thing he was sure of, hard work.


	6. Chapter 5 Starting Out: Anya

Anyanka sat sipping tea with her pest friend Halfreck. The two were giggling over old times and generally having a good day. But then the topic of work came up.

"Anya sweetie, you really need to get back in the game. D'Hoffryn really doesn't like it when you get all limp wristed on him. These punishments you've been dealing out, not really that threatening."

"Well I'm just getting back in the swing of things. I was more of a...slide girl myself so this whole pumping my legs back and forth thing is hard to catch on to. At least when we're talking about a playground. Although there's been a few that I've..."

Anya stopped herself. She was about to bring up another story of him. Xander. She didn't know why she always thought of him. This love thing was tricky. It grabbed hold of your heart and tweaked it to doing its own bidding. Anya didn't like being in control of her own self, but part of her felt there was no other choice.

Halfreck scoffed. "That MAN of yours again. You really should let something happen to him you know. I realize you can't grant your own wish, but you know we ARE friends here. We could make some sort of deal, you know vengeance demon to wussy vengeance demon."

"Hey I'm not a wus! Did you see what I did to that guy just this morning?"

"Yeah, certainly did. But when that farmer lady said she wished her husband was covered in oats I think she meant dumping him in the grain bin out back. I say that because I'm certain she didn't mean turn him into that crappy musician from the 70s with the bad hair."

"Hey if she can't stand something so terrifying then she should know what's she's asking for."

"She DID Annie. YOU were the one to mess that up, not her. Something makes me wonder if you really want this job." Halfreck said with a roll of her eyes, leading to a sip of coffee.

Truth be told, Anya wasn't sure herself. Sure Xander had hurt her, but she wasn't sure punishing all those other men was really the right thing to do. She cursed her time with Buffy's stupid gang, it made her grow a conscious! Anya looked her friend square in the eye.

"I want this Hallie, I really do. Just you wait and see. I'll show you something you'd never have believed if I hadn't shown it to you. Which...I will show you. You'll just...wait...for a bit."

The two women blinked at each other for a minute over Anya's less than convincing decree. All of the sudden, in an attempt to cover her lameness, Anya popped up.

"You wanna go shopping?"

"When DON'T I?"


	7. Chapter 6 Starting Out: Spike?

An eye peeped open, allowing some rather harsh sunlight to come in. The man raised his hand to block it out. After he finally let himself completely open his eyes, he realized there wasn't really light at all, just the open mouth of a cave staring at him. There was sunlight beyond it, but he was out of its bright rays for the time being.

An attempt to sit up proved useless. There was pain all over and he was pretty sure he heard something that belonged to him crack. Had he taken up spelunking and was now paying a dear price for the hobby? A search of his brain showed nothing but some rather poetic verse. What that had to do with his damaged state he was not able to discern.

A few more minutes later he grudgingly made his way to a sitting position. A few minutes later, he approved himself to stand. With his hand on the dampened cave wall, he moved his way to the mouth of the cave. Although he had no strength or clue what he was going through, he had a thought that made him happy and a smile erupted upon his face.

"I'm alive!" he muttered to himself in a British tone he at least recognized.

He took his free hand and let it flow out into the sun. The warmth felt good on his pale skin. It was as if his whole body had come alive! He tilted his head back and closed his eyes to take in the sensation that was tingling so wonderfully. That was until he felt the warmth magnify. He opened his resting eyes to see his hand was smoking and peeling. A yelp cried out of his throat as he pulled his steaming hand back into the darkness and faltered back to the ground. He watched the hand slowly cool and the smoke dissipate. After looking the hand back to forth a time or two he made a confused notation.

"I...burn."


	8. Chapter 7 Coming Home

"Coming Home"

Buffy trod her way into the house and, once there, plopped the greasy bag down on the dining room table. She turned to her sister and, though very tired, managed a smile.

"Soups on! Although it's more sort of burgery."

"No thanks sis. Not really hungry." Dawn muttered barely, her foot already placed a few stairs toward her room.

Buffy heaved a heavy sigh. "Well you didn't eat lunch so that's gotta be a lie!"

"How do you know what I want?" Dawn spat without turning around.

"Dawn!" Buffy began in an agitated tone.

Before either could speak, the door burst open and a looming figure stepped inside. Buffy was instantly on guard, but softened when she saw who had come in.

"Hey ladies! We're just two wild and crazy guys!" The man stopped his silly dance and came to a realization. "I kinda need a second guy to make that plural don't I?"

Dawn paused and spun herself around to run down the steps with a huge grin on her face. "Xander!" she giggled before wrapping him in a hug.

"Hey! There's my girl!" Xander said while rubbing his hand through the scalp. He looked up at Buffy. "Well and then there's you."

"Yes. You. That's my name." Buffy uttered in sarcastic monotone.

"Ooo!" Xander exclaimed after glancing past Buffy. "I see your sister made soup burgers again!" he stated before breaking Dawn's hug and attacking the loudly crinkling sack.

Dawn shot a huffy look to Buffy that was accentuated by the crossing of her arms before she fled upstairs. Buffy could only sigh again, this time adding a shake of her head. She walked over to the table to lean on it, getting herself next to her friend's face.

"You? Your sister? Tell me Xander do you even know my name anymore?"

Xander paused his decent into his next bite to think. "Uh...Buffy, The Dogfaced Girl?"

Buffy's eyes slanted while her mouth went into a hateful smirk. "I should shoot you." She turned her gaze toward the wall behind which the stairs were hidden. "What do you think's up with Dawn? I finally start training her and it seems like she hates me more for it."

Xander shrugged. "I dunno. She's a teenager. And a female one at that."

Buffy's gaze shot back to Xander. "You do realize you're about three seconds away from a Slayer choke hold. I'd say the amount of burger in your throat would only help me to serve my cunning purpose."

"Yeah. I don't know." All of Xander's chewing stopped. He even went so far as to lay what little remained of the burger down on its wrapper. "I guess I just don't get girls." A deep sigh from his throat seemed to direct him toward the front room picture window.

Buffy followed and covered one of his shoulders with her chin and the other with a rubbing hand. For just one minute there she had her joking jovial Xander back and now all it took was an eye's blink to turn him into the pensive Xander of late. He was trying to hide his pain with jokes as he always had, but lately their plaster was easily cracking. Buffy couldn't count the nights he had come over and just sat on her couch, not saying a word. He didn't want to be alone, but it was as if he were punishing himself when around other people and not letting himself feel a part of them either.

A depressed Xander. An angry Dawn. Buffy wondered if anyone had survived the last few weeks in tact.


End file.
